......seeing as we've gone into painting....if an artist produced a show of brilliant replicas of, say, Turner paintings and exhibited at a gallery, I would have no interest in seeing them...….even curiosity wouldn't come into it - much rather go and see the real deal at the Clore Gallery at Tate Britain......and I would wonder why someone who was talented enough to replicate Turner's paintings was not using their understanding of his methods as an advancement of their own creative pursuits, perhaps pushing artistic sensibilities of said artist into new directions for their own pursuit of new creative angles and possibilities...…

Similarly, if someone created replicas of my paintings from thirty odd years ago, and started exhibiting them, I would be horrified for many reasons, not least that they wouldn't have a sodding clue what they were about and why I made the damn things in the first place!.....and really, why are you doing this and shouldn't you be doing your own thing!!

......so.....Be Bop tribute band - for me - forget it! Absolutely no interest whatsoever....it would dilute the 'real deal' .....I never saw Be- Bop at the time but have seen Bill on two occasions performing AIAYL and Maid and Panic and Ships etc., and that'll do for me......these days I'd rather hear 'Golden Dream Of Circus Horses' than anything very old......

.....please- those of you who do enjoy the tribute artist....let's not get into a situation....if you enjoy it that's fine!.....I just do not....that's all

I'm tempted to say 'gets played far too much' in my opinion.'Ships In The Night' being the prime example. And going to watch tribute bands definitely is a nostalgia thing, of course it is! That's obvious to everyone.

Come on Bill, of course SITN gets played every month by Ken Bruce on Radio 2 and 'Maid In Heaven' gets the odd airplay on more rock orientated stations but the vast majority of BBD songs rarely get any. So is it any wonder that people will want to see a dedicated appreciation band like Sunburst Deluxe? I say that because they did not strike me as a run of the mill 'tribute band' but more a group of people that just loved the music you created with BBD and wanted to share it with like minded people. Of course it's your music and non of this could have come about without you, without a doubt but I think you should 'chill out' a little and not think it's a swipe at your artistic integrity, basically, deep down, Sunburst Deluxe and the people that go see them ...love you. x

look…...the guy in the vid I saw on you tube just looks like he's going through the motions......great Bill pastiche.....but no soul in there whatsoever......painting by numbers...….ridiculous......that's not Be Bop.....completely misses what the whole thing was about in it's heyday!!

Well, you know my feelings about all this so called 'tribute' stuff. I don't appreciate it and don't think it's warranted, and it certainly isn't welcomed or endorsed by myself. I just see it as being a cheap opportunistic 'cashing in' on my band's originality and ideas.My message is the same as always...get out there and do your own music and leave mine to posterity. I don't need a tribute band presenting a pale pastiche of music I made over 40 years ago. Leave it where it belonged, on the records and in people's memories. But, I guess for some people, they'll never move on... sad but inevitable.

Amazingly, the call for a Be Bop Deluxe reformation continues on Facebook, on and on and on, ad nauseam...

I suppose I should be flattered but it's frankly irritating. I've just now had to explain, for the umpteenth time, that Charlie is no longer alive, that Andy and Simon have no interest in reforming the band, and that at 70 years old, I'm struggling with various health issues and may possibly never perform live again. (Which doesn't alter the fact that I'm not remotely interested in a Be Bop Deluxe reunion in the first place.)

Yet, despite my constant posting on FB to bring people up to speed, there are still many people who seem to believe that it's 1976 again and everything can be the same as it once was. One Be Bop fan seemed to completely ignore my explanation and said something along the lines of, "I understand what you're saying but many bands do reform so why can't you?" Which, after my detailed breakdown of why I can't do such a thing, seems an absolutely absurd question for him to ask. Jeez, get real folks, be here and now and investigate what music I might have to offer you today. It;'s 2019 for God's sake!

Personally i'm holding out for the reformation of Purple Tangerine Snowflake.

Now, that isn't a bad idea, (though it's going back to the 1960s!) But sadly, that too isn't possible as my old friend and bassist, Alan Quinn, is no longer with us. Someone who I miss very much in my life.